Boundary Representation in Practice (1993)
article⁄Boundary Representation in Practice (1993)
abstract⁄There is an essential contradiction between the making of buildings or built environments in a threedimensional modeler and the graphic control of this process. Threedimensional modeling is a constructive activity, in which solids are assembled as they would be in an actual structure it benefits the designer. Presentation and documentation, on the other hand, are prescriptive activities that direct some of the construction and all the visualization and criticism of the proposal they benefit the user and builder.A building while being designed can be visualized and criticized from its solid model, and the model can take a variety of forms depending on its part computerbased, drawn in orthographic or perspective projection, constructed of cardboard or wood, or described narratively by means of text, programmatic data, performance model or animation. However, practicing architecture is the process of recording and communicating the decision making process and the contractual obligations that result. In actual practice, in contrast to the designer directed ideal, more participants are brought in sooner at the beginning of a project and with more publicity, which in turn means keeping more, not fewer, records. As the profession evolves, records of the string of design decisions will become more automated, more carefully structured and more retrievable. More buildings will be ’tracked’ and exposed to review in this way because public environmental sensitivity will improve. The communication between a single designer and his own thoughts will become less and less important.
